One Heart
by riverwoodhills
Summary: might be a multi-chapter in which Clary finds comfort in Magnus and Alec after a fight with Jace.


shadowhunters: one heart

in which Clary finds comfort in Alec and Magnus after a huge fight with Jace.

xxxxx

They've been at each other's throats day after day, ever since they set Ithuriel free. The entire Institute was getting sick of their screams. That's how Clary found herself banging on Magnus' door at 11 at night, with a duffel bag in hand, tears streaming down her cheeks. Magnus internally sighed at the sight of her, and his smile turned grim.

"Oh, biscuit." She doesn't know how long she's staying, but Magnus is more than happy to have her. He's always had a soft spot for the red-head, ever since she was a child, and he knows she's hurting. He takes her hand and leads her inside, towards his glittery living room.

She's not surprised to see Alec sitting on the sofa with a martini in hand, clearly waiting for Magnus to come back. Instantly, she feels terrible for ruining their night together, but before she can suggest that she leaves, Alec rises from his seat and takes her duffel bag and sets it in the spare room, without a word.

Magnus sits her down on the sofa, handing her a can of soda, partly because he knows she'd do better having this conversation sober, and partly because of the protective figure he becomes around her. Moments later, Alec joins them, knowing if anyone can help Clary, it's him, considering he's been on the receiving end of many rants and a few punches here and there, courtesy of Jace.

It's not long before she's down the rollercoaster of events that have happened between her and Jace since saving Ithuriel. First, he'd been mad that she didn't tell him about the voices in her head, and when she'd fought back with the "I would have, if you had been around." line, he just got even more mad. After that, the simplest things turned into the biggest fight. It got so bad that Jace didn't even want to be at Magnus' anymore, so now he hollows himself away in his new apartment by Hunter's Moon.

"What do I do, Alec? I've tried to reach out and resolve things, but even thinking about him hurts." He knew that was a rhetorical question, so he just stayed silent and watched the tears form in her eyes.

"Is it absolutely crazy of me to wish that Simon was my brother and not Jace?" No. It wasn't crazy, because truth be told, pretty much everyone in their circle of family and friends wished the exact same thing, except for Simon of course. No one really knew how Simon felt anymore.

"No, of course not, biscuit." Magnus replied, getting her another can of soda, before sitting back down beside the girl and letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

"It hurts when I'm with him, and it hurts when I'm not with him. I don't know which is the better option." Jace had said the exact same thing to Alec the week earlier. Jace is hurting just as much as Clary is, she just doesn't know that.

"If it's any consolation, Jace is completely miserable without you. He hates that he's hurting you." Alec frowns, tilting his head to see her reaction.

"Then why is he being such an asshole?"

"Because he doesn't know how to deal with this any better than you do. I know you're hurt by what he did. Leaving you after what happened to your mom and after what happened with that psycho-warlock, but he's hurting by what he did to you too. He's ashamed and feels incredibly guilty for leaving you."

It was true. After he and Luke dropped Clary off at the institute after saving Ithuriel, he went straight to Magnus' and cried his eyes out in Alec's lap. He couldn't believe he'd been so caught up in some random seelie girls that he wasn't out there protecting Clary.

Alec tried to soothe him as much as possible, but eventually, he fell asleep and when he woke, Jace was nowhere to be found. He'd shut himself out again, except this time, he was always checking in on Clary, throwing himself into work, trying to find a way to defeat Valentine, simply so Clary would be safe.

"Maybe he does, but that doesn't matter. We can't even stand the sight of each other anymore, not just because of that. I don't know what to do anymore."

"Listen, Clary. Valentine proved that you and Jace are siblings, there's nothing you can do about that. You and Jace are going to be in each other's lives forever, no matter what, so I think you just need to tolerate each other until you're okay with being near each other. That's what I did with Simon." Alec jokes and looks at Clary, surprised to see her completely lost in thought. The two men wait in silence for her to speak, and when she does, it's not what they expected.

"He didn't." Glances of confusion crossed across Alec and Magnus' faces.

"Who didn't what?"

"Valentine." Clary raises her head, and looks at the wall with a vicious expression. "He didn't prove that we're siblings. He just said we were." She finally looks at her two friends. Magnus quickly stands up, and starts to pace, thinking.

"Okay, so you're telling me, that Valentine TOLD you that you and Jace were siblings. AND YOU JUST BELIEVED HIM?"

"We were in shock!" Clary defends herself. When the words came out of Valentine's mouth, she couldn't think about anything other than Jace. The fact that she didn't tell him she was in love with him.

"Clary, this was definitely Valentine's plan. He knew you'd be too in shock to ask for proof and he needed something to tear the two of you apart." Alec reasons as Clary bolts up.

"We have to take a DNA test, of find some proof that Jace and I aren't related."

"Clary you can do that in the morning. You need rest." Alec tries to convince her, but Magnus simply snaps his fingers and she's asleep on the sofa. Alec sends him a small glare.

"What? She never would have listened to us."


End file.
